An Omaha man's guilty plea Thursday in the death of his severely malnourished and dehydrated mother should serve as a grim and grotesque reminder, authorities say:
Get help before things get ugly.
Robert Rogers, 44, pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the May death of Connie Rogers, 66, at her home near 49th and Pratt Streets.
Rogers faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in April. In return for his plea, prosecutors dropped a lesser charge of abuse of a vulnerable adult.
Rogers had been his mother's caregiver — and he did a horrendous job.
In May, Omaha police found Connie Rogers' body on a couch, a protein shake dripping out of her mouth.
Authorities alleged that Robert Rogers had propped the body on the couch and poured the shake into her mouth — and had called a mortuary, instead of 911 — to hide her deplorable living conditions.
Robert Rogers had no food in the house — and investigators found Connie Rogers' mattress rotting, soaked with her urine and feces.
A coroner determined that she died of pneumonia, severe malnutrition and possibly dehydration. She weighed 70 pounds — about half her normal body weight. Her body was riddled with pressure sores.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said this case was a sordid reminder that some adults shouldn't venture to care for their elderly parents on their own. Kleine pointed out that there are agencies — Health and Human Services, the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging — that specialize in helping older adults get proper care.
"There are other avenues," Kleine said. "This kind of thing should never happen. The conditions were totally inappropriate and inexcusable."
Contact the writer:
402-444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com
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